The Whisper That Shatters Our Hopelessness Part 2 | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson
by Chad Erickson
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:9-12, Isaiah 26:3, John 16:24

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/chad-erickson--the-whisper-that-shatters-our-hopelessness-part-2
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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she just let me borrow her jumper cables so I pulled my van over and I jumped her off and we were we all left happily ever after but let me tell you so that wasn't the devil he don't he don't care if your car starts or not he doesn't care about your house because he doesn't sleep he's all about our minds mind body soul spirit is where he tries to get inside and mess up like a lion looking toad over there there are times when Lions aren't even hungry they're just looking at of our stuff because they're the king of the jungle and they're looking out over the prayer they're looking out and they're trying to find something because I can I will and the devil looks at us and he says if that's a child of God I'm not even hungry I'm just gonna go after him to see what I can devour in his life to see what I can devour in her life and so that king of the jungle he's looking he's seeking and I preached in our Chapel service on Friday in our day and age the only way and the greatest way that the devil loves to enter into our bodies is through substances in Jesus's day men they were they were lunatics that people fill with unclean spirits and there he was casting out Devils here and there well we have different Devils of our day and age it's called it's called alcohol is something it's called being addicted to drugs it's called sexual there's sexual lust and immorality that's how that's how the devil finds his way into the bodies of man now and things that can blur your vision and cause you to do things that you wouldn't normally do that's how the devil gets in and starts to control us because he says it's not in your stuff that I'm interested in I just want to get into your body I want to get into your mind I want you to watch something listen to something or something that causes it or I can have a portal into your body because if he can get inside of our bodies whatever spears living on the inside of us that's the spirit that begins to control us that's why the Bible says that after you receive the Holy Ghost that you received power to be witnesses it allows you to start living the way you ought to live because the Holy Spirit uses a portal don't your mouth and it gets inside of you and it starts all shut up or cut up ha ha it's supposed to help you live right into right and the devil is just the opposite just like the Holy Ghost wants to get inside ya the devil also wants to get inside and start messing with you but it's not so much a body he cares about he tries to get into our minds you may be seated because if he can get into our minds he can control the way we think anything controls the way we think he controls the way we act and if he controls the way we act he controls our very destiny because you are what you think I'll say that again you are what you think and if you allow those thoughts just to boil in your mind and you just allow yourself to let those thoughts go over and over and over again well I guess I didn't get a class so low and I guess they don't realize Who I am and what I've done in the past church that I came from I should be the one up there preaching I should be the one teaching Sunday School I don't know why they don't ask me to do it I should be the one leading their ministry all these thoughts start going in your mind and if you let them fester in your mind all of a sudden your spirit begins to change all of a sudden when you did have a life of joy that joy starts to wane and where you were once happy you can't be happy no more and your resting face becomes a frown all the time your resting face people look at you and say well I wonder what's wrong with them I'll tell you what's wrong with you it's not anything about sticks it's not anything about stones and she fell out of words to come into your mind and control who you are but that's why we gotta be sober and we gotta be vigilant we gotta be alert awake we gotta be ready to fight we always got to have our weapons ready we always got to have the breastplate of righteousness the shield of faith we've always got to have the hell in a Salvation on because there's coming a day when the Lions gonna find you and you better be sober and ready because he's coming after you so many people say well I've been thinking pastor Eric said I've just been thinking well you need to stop thinking because then I don't mind is the devil's workshop and I don't mind you let your mind go idle you let your mind you let thoughts just fester oh my god but son I'm preaching to somebody I feel like I need to stay here just for a minute you got to get those thoughts out of your mind oh my god you got to get those thoughts out of your mind whatever you have to do the best thing you can do is start to worship God and when you start to worship God God will start speaking in your life and when God starts speaking to your life it's gonna take the place the thoughts that you're thinking and you're gonna start thinking thoughts of restoration and fall so deliverance and thoughts of victory keep your mind busy to keep your mind busy oftentimes it's right after a great victory then a spirit of depression will try to devour your mind it's after a Sunday night service when the Holy Ghost is poured out when the preacher don't even get to preach it's after you bring your tithes into the storehouse and it's after you bring that offering into the storehouse and you walk out a church with your chest up and your shoulders back in your head up and you think I could take anything alright now that's when the spirit of depression wants to lay a blanket over top of you that you can't even you can't even define what it is anybody ever been there you don't even know what caused him just feeling just yeah I'll say to my wife I'll say and I'm not talking deep depression nobody look up here I'm not I have no suicidal thoughts I promise you it's not deep depression people really suffer with that and that's a whole other thing and that's a whole other thing we need to pray about but I'm talking about just that blanket the wet blanket that is get straight Tory and you don't know why you feel the way you feel tell my wife I saw you I feel it I just man I just got done preaching the pulpit we had an awesome halter service everything was great I just feel this feeling and I cannot I cannot define what it is okay put my finger on it but I feel it I feel it cuz it's usually right after listen if you're a preacher in this place it's really bad for preachers if you're a minister in this place it's really bad man when you really give everything you are you go home and you're spent everything you've given everything you've shot and your voice is gone you sweat it out of your clothes you get home you sit down in that chair and you all feel good because the burdens off you because you preach what God put on your heart but for some reason and preachers only preachers can really understand this you still feel that weight of that wet blanket and the devil tries to hit you with this very best shot can't stand what you did can't stand that there was a move of the Holy Ghost can't stand that you preached against him and you preached for God Almighty the savior the Lord the God of everything he can't stand it and so he's gonna try to come into your life and hit you with his best shot he gets in the mind he gets in the mind Monday mornings listen Monday mornings are the hardest mornings for me you would think you'd be the best morning you think after a Sunday night service you gotta be in a Holy Ghost high it's not like that it's one of the hardest mornings for me because I've given everything I have and God's anointing me and now I'm spent and I feel what Elijah must have felt like after he had just defeated those 450 prophets of bail when he took up to Mount Carmel when he went when he proved that he was the greatest prophet and the only true prophet of the land and that every other prophet of bail and Asha every other prophet was a false prophet he proved to them when his God rain down fire and consumed his sacrifice when their gods could not consume their sacrifice you know the story but you really may not know the end of the story because we preach about that story because Elijah gets up in a big way and he says now I want to know whose side are you on and all the people all the Israelites were all the Lord such a world the Lord's side but that didn't last even a week and they were right back to worshiping Bale and Asherah and all these horrible gods and idols and here we have here we have Elijah here he feels he just preached the sermon of the year he feels like everything was awesome he feels like he just did the greatest thing that was even possible for a prophet to do that one man by himself with his God defeated everybody he even killed he personally killed the 450 prophets of bail you talking about somebody who walked out of their brother Jeeter and felt victorious you talking about going up to Ahab king and saying hey King we've been having a drought here but I'm about to say a prayer and it's about to start raining brother Josh do you think he was victorious oh yes he was when he was said a little prayer and the next thing he knew there was a cloud the size of a man's hand it was coming over the sea and he had to tell King Ahab hey you better get in your chariot and get down the mountain because there's coming all rain like you ain't never seen a rain and if you don't get back to your kingdom your chairs gonna get stuck in a mud you better get to driving that chariot down that mountain to you think he was victorious I guarantee you he was victorious but the very next day wicked Queen Jezebel she says if I'm alive by this time tomorrow and if Elijah ain't dead she says I hope everything that happened to my prophets happens to me and wouldn't you know that that prophet who had just been victorious in every way oh my god he just proved who he was I'm talking about his identity as the man of God of the hour had just been stated by God and here he is traveling some a hundred and fifty miles running from this bro you just killed 450 men and you're running from this woman but the same thing happened to him that happens to you and happens to me after were victorious when a little messenger listen all the only way that Elijah knew the only way that Elijah knew that this horrible Queen was after him that Jezebel was after him is cuz she sent a little messenger his way she sent a little voice his way and all it took to take him down was a little voice in his ear that said Jezebel's after you let me tell you something it doesn't have to be some great mighty thing it doesn't have to be some great temptation that takes you down it don't have to be some great trial that takes you down one little voice it can be all it might take to take you down I don't care how big Taurus you think you are how invincible you think you are you might think you're some kind of superhero in God but all it takes is just one little voice to get into your mind and start working with your brain and that's all that happened to Elijah and the next thing we know he's suffering from what we would call depression he's alone in a cave in darkness oh by himself he's fatigued from fighting and from traveling he's empty spiritually became because he gave all he had on Mount Carmel he's paranoid because he thinks he's the only one living for God he doesn't even know there's hundreds there's hundreds of other men of God who are standing up for God he's paranoid he thinks he's the only one and then he starts the request to God God I'm ready to give up just take my life right now I'm ready to die just end it all right here take my life kill me right here god I'm done I give up I quit but then we come upon a God in first kings in 19 and 9 we read this in our text he's came hither under cave and launch there and behold the word of the Lord came to him and said what are you doing here Elijah why in the world are you depressed why in the world are you listening to the voice of Jezebel why in the world are you allowing her to change your very direction you're supposed to be the Prophet you're supposed to be my man of God you're supposed to be doing my will to the people you're supposed to be the one prophesying you're supposed to be the one that's giving direction to my people what are you doing up here in this cave he said what are you doing here he said I've been varied Elijah said I've been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts for the chiller vigil they forsake in my covenant they've thrown down thine altars they've slain my prophets with the sword and I only I am left and they're looking for me they're seeking my life to take it away and God said go forth and stand upon the mountain before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind in the wind an earthquake after the wind an earthquake came but the law was not in the earthquake after the earthquake of fire but the Lord was not in the fire but then came a still small voice I want you to close your eyes in this place I'm almost done preaching it I want you to close your eyes because there's some people that are here today and I'm not talking here physically I'm not talking about here at 1331 William Blount Drive I'm not talking about here in this sanctuary but I believe that God is asking some of you why are you in the state the children why are you living so far below my plan for your life my will for your life is so great why in the world have you found yourself sitting in darkness feeling all alone and given up on your ministry what are you doing here keep your eyes closed and I believe that God wanted to show Elijah he sent a tornado well we would call a tornado he sent a tornado they came through and ripped the rocks apart and came through around where he was in the cave and through things from here to there but he was not in the tornado and then God sent an earthquake and began to shake the very foundation that Elijah was standing on the very things that he knew to be true the very things that he believed and began to be shook the very God that he trusted in the foundation began to be shook but God was not in the earthquake and then came fire the very thing that consumes everything the very thing that consumes they began to have the fire began to spread around about him but God was not in the fire and I just believe that God told him I might have set my fire down to consume must sacrifice and Elijah I know you're used to feeling the great Holy Ghost revival you're used to dancing in the altar you're used to shouting you're used to jumping you're used to singing in the choir and you're used to feeling me and grade in miraculous ways but that's not how I'm coming to you right now I'm not coming in in the monstre way I'm coming to you in a steel whisper I want to speak to your heart I'm not calm this is not about fog and lights and moving lights this is not about LED walls and screens I'm not coming to you in those manners this time I'm showing myself to you and I still kind of reminded me kind of reminded me of my life just keep your eyes closed because I feel the Holy Ghost I just feel for the Holy Ghost right here I tell you a very personal story my daughter Windsor Kate is about to turn eight years old and she is what we refer to as our miracle child because there were three there were three children that we concede and lost in the womb three miscarriages and I want you to know that during that period of time oh-hoh church family I can't even explain to you what the Erickson family was going through I know we tried to appear like everything was okay and I know we try to make it seem like we weren't hurting he'll he try to make it seem like everything was just going awesome in our marriage and our family but on the inside we were crushed my wife was fighting many of you many of you ladies you precious ladies have faced singing she was fighting emotions firefighting hormonal imbalances chemical imbalances within her body that happens when you lose a child and I was trying as a husband I was trying to decipher what she was saying was it coming from her was it coming through the imbalance is what what was being said what's causing it I'm not gonna lie to you we were going through some horrible times in our life there was probably about three years of our life that we were smiling but we weren't feeling happiness on the inside we were coming to church every time the doors were open but there was no happiness on the inside we were doing everything we could as pens to raise a child and a love of firstborn and we did everything we needed to to raise her but there was no happiness on the inside and it was during the time when thoughts were going through our heads when the devil found his way into our minds it wasn't our fault it wasn't anything we brought on it wasn't from sin it wasn't anything that we had asked for or even walked into it was just things that happen in life but there we were in a still small voice bird two songs that my wife wrote and I want to read you the lyrics to these songs and I want you to hear these songs and you might have heard them and you might not have understood where they came from but she wrote a verse that said confused heartbreaking my world is shaking you should hear the conversation in my brain it's complicated it's so frustrating I can hear you speaking through my pain though your voice is bigger than my loneliness it's bigger than my awfulness it's louder than the words of doubt I hear God you speak right to me you tell me that you love me the enemy keeps talking in my ear but that don't matter because your voice is bigger the next verse says the storm is raging the Sun is fading those clouds are getting darker by the day the wind is blowing but I'm safe and knowing that then I can hear you speaking through the rain then the bridge says no doubt or fear it's also clear you're the only voice I need to hear your voice is bigger because of listen to me church family even with a still small voice God's voice is still bigger than the lies of the devil the lies of the adversary that come in and rattle around in our head the voice listen if we can concentrate and learn to detect which voice is the voice of the father in which voice is the voice of the lion who wants to destroy us then she wrote another song called surrender it said it brokenness is what you love Here I am Lord shatter dreams of life undone Here I am Lord and I love this line right here it says I was never made to be complete without your voice guiding me and then just simply says I surrender how wish we get us to lift up our hands I why don't you just stand to your feet all over this place and lift up your hands to heaven and just say Lord I surrender to your voice I surrender to the very things that God I know that you're speaking into life I want you to know that Elijah his ministry wasn't over just because he found himself in a cave all alone in despair with the enemies speaking lies into his ear his ministry wasn't even near over because God began to tell him this is who I want you to appoint as King matter of fact I'm gonna give you a few kings I'm gonna have you a point in your lifetime he began to show Elijah he began to show him his life in his future and began to tell him my time is not up with you you better not give up for who you are I've got so much more for you to do if you can't even believe or comprehend in my ways because my ways are higher than your ways my ways I'm stronger than your strength huh I can go farther than you can even imagine I could call because your life is in my hands I hold your future your destiny belongs to me so either Kate was born November 1st 2011 she's our oneness baby that's 11 111 and oh what happiness came back to our lives because they told her they they told us they said because of you've got some issues he said felon you got some issues in your body because of those issues this child is probably going to have some deformities and there's gonna be some issues having me wrong and her arms are not measuring to the right length of arm for this many weeks that you're along and her legs are not measuring correctly and there's probably me of course they they wanted to ask us that question if we wonder if we wanted to come and consult with them to see if this was this was a child that we were wanting to have and we looked and thought oh my god I said we don't care oh we hope she's gonna be a blessing to us she's gonna bring happiness into our life and I thank God that she was 100% healthy I thank God that she's she's probably beyond her percentage when it comes to her growth in her development even today and I was so thankful and happiness came back into our lives but let me tell you something the devil never had our joy he might have had our happiness for we never lost our joy listen times may not go right for you and you might be hearing whispers and voices in your mind and in your brain but don't ever lose your joy don't ever lose your hope since her head is about to sing a song there's been so many things that have come my way I lost friends I I've lost family there's been people who have turned their back on me I've lost possessions and wealth but oh my god what I can stand up here say through the Holy Ghost what if we just fill up this altar this morning and begin to cry out to God and say God I want you to speak directly into my heart I'm I'm sick and tired of hearing what the devil's trying to tell me he's trying to convince me I'm not good enough he's trying to convince me that there's a better way and there's a better plan but I just don't believe those things because the still small whisper my God is bringing hope into my life the still small whisper come on somebody don't expect them to be a great explosion there's not gonna be tongues of fire they're gonna sit upon you right here today like they did on the pen of clay the day of Pentecost but you're gonna hear a still small voice it's gonna whisper in your mind listen to me don't give up hope on me keep peace within your mind keep joy inside of your life I've given you a better way stop my thoughts are torture I'm thinking about an expected end for you don't give up hope but keep on worse and keep on praising come on throw your hands up real high me here right here come on you gotta speak through the hands you gotta sneak through the fear the depression you got speak through voices healed up Oh could I lose everything or no devil not today devil people who said they care people are gonna leave you you know here come on sub the end up raising come on allow your brains to be louder than the voices come on oh that's a phrase that come out of your mouth well you want to hear yourself raise something out of your mouth there you can hear it's like God I'm giving you my brace today come on is a woman with the issue of odd matter what honey I want to read two more scriptures in your here and I'm gonna let you go I said 26 and three says thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusted in thee and in John 16 and 24 says hitherto have you asked nothing in my name he said ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full did you hear what I just said Jesus said you ought to ask and you will receive if you want joy ask for joy in your joy shall be full I want to be full and running on the Holy Ghost everyone wanna be fully running over with the Holy Ghost inside of me come on before we dismiss what I'm to say Lord I want to be feeling the joy the Holy Ghost power I wanted to reflect everything that I do and every person would know he's a man of God in a man of joy somebody clap your hands up to the Lord and just love hear me in this place today oh joy somebody say charm yeah the Holy Ghost I'm talking about somebody shout joy gotcha come on lift up your hairs I'm talking about you holy cow let me sing a sing nature gosh Oh god bless you in Jesus name have a great afternoon let's meet back here at 5:30 in the prayer room in the first episode church make sure you shake somebody's hand that you don't know today I want you to introduce yourself come on you can bring joy into people's lives come on people need friends people need to know they're loved and who can love them greater than first apostolic god bless you we'll see you tonight